Final round of group matches start tonight: Which teams are likely to make it to the round of 16 in the World Cup?

The second round of all group matches was concluded this morning with Spain's 2-0 win against Honduras.
Tonight the final round of group matches will commence. Although the first two rounds produced the lowest average goal per game of just over 2, the final group round promises to produce lots of thrilling moments as well as a few surprises. The reason for this is because almost all of the European favourites or heavy weights, i.e. Germany, England, Spain, France & Italy, must win their final matches to guarantee passage to the knockout stage of the Cup. The South American teams on the other hand, are all on the way to potentially win their respective groups. As a result, the first knock out stage promises top produce a few blockbusters (such as e.g. England vs Germany) as the favourites in many of the groups will probably finish second instead of the expected first place.

Here's a quick review of each group & my view on which teams will advance (in bold):

Group A: Uruguay & Mexico

As mentioned in my previous emails, France not only embarrassed themselves on the pitch with their inept performances, they also disgraced themselves off the pitch with publicly fought unrest in their camp. South Africa will sadly be the first host nation in the history of the Cup not to advance beyond the group stage.

Mexico & Uruguay have been the stand out teams in this group. France need to score at least 3 goals against South Africa & for either Mexico or Uruguay to win their battle in order to have any chance of advancing to the next round. If this does happen, it will be undeserved.

Group B: Argentina & South Korea

Prior to the World Cup, I predicted that Nigeria, despite having so many talented players would disappoint at the World Cup & so far they have been far from competitive with two losses.

I believe despite their heavy loss to the scintillating Lionel Messi & Argentina, South Korea have shown enough to get past the predictably boring Greece & advance to the next round.

Argentina, on the other hand, arguably have the best player in the world in Lionel Messi & are once again one of the main favourites to go all the way & are simply irresistible to watch.

Group C: USA & England

This was supposed to be one of the easiest draws for one of the pre tournament favourites England. But once again they have failed to fire & have been rather disappointing. It all started to go wrong with Robert Green's disastrous mistake in the first game against the USA. It got worse when Ledley King who had replaced the injured Captain Rio Ferdinand in the central defence injured his knee. And to top it all, John Terry, the disgraced former captain destabilised the England camp further by attempting & failing to start a rebellion against the coach Capello on Sunday. Despite all this, England have enough character & calibre to beat Slovenia & advance to the second round for a possible show down with their arch enemy Germany.

I have been very impressed with the USA's fighting spirit, their speed & energy & believe they will be able to break down Algeria's disciplined defense & advance alongside England.

Group D: Germany & Serbia

My heart wanted my favourite two teams Germany & the mighty Socceroos to advance from this group, and Australia to meet England in the knock out phase. However, red cards have dented both Australia & Germany's prospects in their previous matches.

Germany, the record 11 time semi finalist & 7 time finalist in the World Cup have never failed to go through the group stage in World Cup history & should be too strong for Ghana. On the other hand, whilst I am sure the Socceroos will put up a brave fight, I do not believe Australia, in Harry Kewell's forced absence, will have the fire power to get through the solid Serbian defence and score the minimum of 2 goals they require. :(

Group E: Netherlands & Denmark

After a slow start in their first game, Holland found their feat in the second game & will advance as an outside favourite for the World Cup. their odds improve even further if Robben ends up being fit enough to play for them at some stage.

Denmark on the other hand will be too strong for Japan & should be able to win and advance. Japan however, do have a better goal difference. They will aim for a draw ad therefore there is an outside chance that Japan will end up advancing on goal difference.

Group F: Paraguay & Italy

Group F was supposed to be a walk in the park for the defending champions Italy. But Italy's coach Lippi failed to rejuvenate the 2006 team & stuck with the likes of Canevarro who is now 37! Their slow & tired legs has seen Italy ride their luck to two draw their first two matches.

However, those of you who are keen football supporters would know or (in my case) remember how Italy won the World Cup in 1982 after having drawn all their 3 group stage matches & advancing to the knock out stage on the basis of having scored a mere one goal more than Cameron. In more recent times, having experienced their mighty sting against Australia in 2006 & aging New Zealand last week make it hard to write off Italy totally.

Paraguay have on the other hand been the dominant team in this group, and a massive show of admiration also goes to the courageous effort by the great New Zealand side. They have once again overachieved & should be congratulated.

Group G: Brazil & Portugal

After sluggish start in their first respective matches, both teams produced fantastic attacking football & great wins in their second matches making in almost impossible not to go through. The final group game clash between Portugal & Brazil promises to be one of the best matches of the entire tournament.

Group H: Spain & Switzerland

After their shock loss in their opening match against Switzerland, Spain got back on track with a win against Honduras.

I believe they need to beat Chile to guarantee passage to the next round as Switzerland will beat Honduras. This will probably eliminate the impressive Chile on goal difference. However, amazingly, if Chile draw with Spain & the Swiss beat Honduras, Spain, the favourites will be eliminated from the competition.

It must also be mentioned that Switzerland broke the record for the longest time any team has not conceded a goal in the World Cup history last night, although eventually they conceded a goal 7 lost to Chile 0-1. their record started in the 2006 world Cup where they got eliminated without conceding a single goal in open play (eliminated in a penalty shoot out) & lasted two matches into this year's second round match against Chile.

As you can see, the mouth watering excitement of the World Cup is only beginning. Enjoy & check my blog to rate my predictions!

If you wish to leave comments but are unable to click on the comment section as reported by some of my friends, you may wish to email me on ricksamimi@gmail.com & I will post your comments.

Football maybe a simple game but refereeing it is a complex task in urgent need of a complete overhaul

Harry Kewell's unintentional handball on the goal line would have probably attracted a yellow card had the referee had video footage at his disposal.

I start by expanding on the title of my post again:

FIFA (the football governing body) continue to refuse to acknowledge and address the problems plaguing the beautiful game by stating that football needs to remain a simple game with simple rules. The problem with this simplistic statement ignores the fact that "Refereeing professional football matches has become a very complex task requiring a major overhaul in its current structure"

The inconsistency in refereeing standards are ruining the World Cup in the eyes of the fans, commentators & players alike. This is mainly due FIFA's blanket refusal to provide appropriate and sufficient assistance to referees.

So, the result is nervous referees issuing card after red card in order to stamp their authority, and in the process ruining the spectacle.

The referees are dealing with professional players! Who can blame the players for dishonestly taking full advantage of the absence of any assistance to prove of their unjust actions? It would be like asking professional thieves to leave a forwarding address for blind folded policemen!

Kaka got sent off because of the Oscar winning tumble by an Ivory Coast player rolling on the ground holding his face after Kaka had for simply pushed him back with his elbow

If FIFA is not going to introduce video refereeing, then at the very least the game requires four linesmen covering the entire field of play from all angles. The following are some of the refereeing decisions which may have been overturned on the stop if the referees had access to video refereeing or at least extra linesmen to consult:

• Harry Kewell's unintentional handball on the goal line may have attracted a yellow card instead of red. as a result, Australia struggled with 10 men to hold Ghana to a 1-1 draw & in the process almost certainly got eliminated.
• The USA team's heroic comeback from two goals down was stifled as the referee disallowed a perfectly good 3rd goal depriving USA of a famous win & guaranteed passage to the knockout round
• Brazil's Fabiano handled the ball & scored against Ivory coast without the referee or his assistants noticing he handled the ball intentionally
• In the same match an Ivory Coast player caused Kaka to be red carded by play acting
• New Zealand were potentially robbed from one of the most famous wins in the World Cup history when De Rossi dived & won the reigning Champions Italy a penalty for a 1-1 draw.

Therefore the message to Sep Blatter the FIFA President & his 7 figure salaried Executive Committee is: You are supposed to be serving the fans, & the game. Your job is to act for the good of the game & to provide what your masters (ie FANS) are demanding, not to fill your pockets with your cushy jobs & greedily keep the status quo of the multi billion dollar industry that is football!

How do the teams rate as the second round of the group stage starts to shape at the World Cup 2010?

The second group matches got on the way last night in FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa.

Before having a look at the first round, I must thank 702 ABC Sydney (radio station) for interviewing me for the last two Fridays in the morning show with Deborah Cameron about the World Cup & also for including a link to this blog on the ABC website.

I'd like to remind those of you who are casual followers of the sport not to lose too much heart! The first round of the group stage of this World Cup has been unusual in its lack of goals. Most teams have been very cautious & some like Australia have not looked settled.

As it was evident last night, we will be witnessing much more attacking football in the crucial second round matches (13 goals scored in the 4 second round matches played so far whilst the same groups only scored 5 goals in the first round). And now to a selection of teams making headlines so far:

• France: As predicted, lost & clueless under their coach Demenech
• South Africa: sadly for them & their fans, will become the first host nation in the Cup's history not to make the second round
• Argentina: Maradona, Messi & co look good both on paper & on the field, a potential winner
• England & Brazil, both looking a little bit out of sorts & in need on fine tuning, which may be too late to do! but still potential quarter finalists & in case of Brazil, a potential winner
• Germany, sublime against Australia, got stifled in midfield vs Serbia & lost 1-0 having had their star striker Klose sent off & missed a penalty. I still rate them as a good bet for semi finals, and an outside chance for the final.
• Italy, looked old, jaded & too slow! They will be out by quarter finals!
• Portugal & Ivory coast had a tough match. Overall ronaldo was yet again disappointing for Portugal. But we have to wait to see their respective second matches.
• Switzerland & USA should be congratulated for taking points out of Spain & England games respectively. Switzerland legendary coach Ottmar Hitzfeld said he learned from USA's win against Spain in the Confederation Cup last year.
• Australia were hugely disappointing against Germany. Their coach Pim Verbeek should have used the same system as USA & Switzerland did in their first matches.
• And last & not least, Spain are still my favourites to win as long as they can mentally pull themselves out of the misery of the loss to Switzerland. However, that may turn out to be easier said than done as Spain are the perennial under achievers at the World Cup level & are notorious for losing their nerves. However, they are the current european Champions & the most attratctive side to watch!

All in all, the second & third round of the group matches are sure to provide more goals, thrills & surprises like the defeat of France by Mexico & Germany by Serbia.

If you are unable to use the comment section, you canemail me at ricksamimi@gmail.com with your comments & I will post them. Thank you.

Why Australia & Pim Verbeek lost more than just the tactical battle vs Germany

Germany Coach Joachim Loew & Australia's Pim Verbeek

Loew & his team were accused of arrogance by the English speaking media! As it turned out they were doing their homework on the Socceroos!

The media in Australia did not waste a second after the Socceroos emphatic defeat by Germany! The knives were & are still out! Depending on the media outlet everyone & everything under the sun from Pim Verbeek to the players to the actual sport itself were attacked for the so called embarrassing defeat!

Channel Ten went as far as claiming today that 3 senior players had officially complained to the FFA about Pim Verbeek.

Ben Buckley & the FFA officially denied the rumours this afternoon. Of course we all know what it means when the officials resort to denial in any situation! It means that not all is well in the camp & the much envied team spirit & mateship that Australian teams in most sports are renouned for is lacking. Those of us who are dedicated World Cup followers can count dozens of teams, most notoriously several of the talented Holland teams, which performed poorly at World Cups as a direct result of disharmony in their camps.

But here's the point:

At the end of the day Pim Verbeek is the coach. Whilst he should allow players to have an input after the disaster against Germany, his position must be respected & all rebellion must be quashed at once.

True!, Pim Verbeek's tactical appraoch went horribly wrong & was very poor at best & very naive at worst. We were exposed throughout the match & our shortcomings were embarrassingly on display. He abandoned the much unloved & criticised, yet disciplined & successful system that had taken his team all the way to the World Cup, and we all paid for it! The players, the fans, the coach himself, the FFA, the (yet again) disenchanted casual non football fans & potentially our 2022 bid. But a coach's position is a revered one & must be respected until the end of the tournament.

The job at hand now is to unify & motivate the players & prepare them mentally, physically & tactically for the next two matches in order to redeem our national reputation, & indeed that of the players & the coach, and with them the midterm viability & popularity of football in Australia.

Having said all of that, I am absolutely amazed at the seemingly poor study & appreciation of the German footballing mentality prior to the game. Germans & the Dutch are bitter sporting & historical rivals. Pim, a Dutchman, has no excuse in underestimating the Germans so badly. Anyone who has followed German football over the years could have warned the team about some typical characteristics of the German national team, some of which I eluded to in my pre match blog last week. The Socceroos did not seem to go to the match with any of the following facts in their plans:

• When the former German great Paul Breitner was interviewed prior to the match, he admitted he as a commentator & most probably most of the German players knew little about Australia & its players, but he stated the staff in the team whose job was to get to know Australia were surely doing that!

• Germany have always worked on both mental as well as physical state of their players. Their successful track record in the World Cup owes as much to their physical & mental strength as it does to to their tactical prowess.

• All the English speaking media hype in Australia & UK pointed to arrogant & dismissive approach of Germany to Socceroos & lack of world class talent in the German squad.. What happened on the day was the exact opposite!

Australia , the second oldest team in the torrnament went to the match against the Youngest German side since 1954 expecting a rugby style physical game void of tactical matery! The Germans on the other hand fielded 5 tactically gifted players all younger than 22 & with a handful of caps between them in their starting line up & supplemented them with world class & tactically gifted stars such as Klose, Podolski, Lahm & Schweinsteiger!

The problem here lies with the English speaking media, and that includes all forms of media that is involved with the English Premier League & Enfglish football in general.

All we hear on TV shows & read in various English soccer magazines (& I have been doing both for more than 30 years) is how few tactically gifted footballers Germany has produced since they won the World Cup in 1990! Whilst this is correct to a certain extent, it is only relative to exceptional stars from a handful of countries such as Brazil, Argentina, Holland & Spain, and much less accurate in comparison with players in e.g. Italy & England & the likes!

It seems Pim Verbeek lost his Dutch instinct & started to believe in English speaking tabloid sport reporting expecting a German side void of talent or tactics! The likes of Ozil, Muller, Lahm, Schweinsteiger, Kedira, Klose & Podolski are all as tactically & technically as gifted as any of the top EPL players & many other players across Europe! & that showed on the night! Australia expected a physical opponent & got little masters of the ball instead!

• Germany always conduct their final preparations prior to the World Cup by playing a so called minnow such as Luxembourg or Lichtenstein in order to allow their players to practise tactical formations & sharpen their minds by scoring lots of goals. This year they played a local side in Italy for a 25-0 win before flying to South Africa. By the time they start the tournament they are hungry for goals & their first opponent would be wise to employ tried & tested & well disciplined tactics against them. Pim abandoned his tried 7 tested & well disciplined tactics of the past two years.
• As Craig Foster states, the modus operandi of the group stage, Germany are masters of the World Cup "modus operandi", i.e. win the first match & win by as big a margin as you can! This not only takes the pressure off, it also gives (in this case) strikers such as Podolski & Klose well needed confidence for the rest of the tournament (both had poor seasons & both scored against Australia). For e.g. in 2006 Germany won their opening match 4-2 (scored 4) & in 2002 8-0 & even a 2-0 in 1998!

The point I am trying to make from the above is that a good team performance & a respectable scoreline would have easily made up for defeat in the match against Germany. It was the poor performance that was so sadly missing that hurt the most. Amateurish tactics & inferior physical conditioning showed throughout the match!

But all is not lost! as long as our leaders can unify & re motivate the team, review the tactical approach & bring back the die hard Aussie spirit, we can still make it to the second round. neither Ghana nor Serbia impressed much in their first game & the Socceroos at their most disciplined are more than capable of grinding the right results out of the next two matches & redeem themselves & their coach!